People spend a lot of time choosing
the right couch and end tables for their living room but
might buy the first wooden bench they see to place in
their landscape. To get the most from your landscape
furniture, it should be chosen and placed with the same
intent and consideration as if you were adding an
ornamental tree to your yard.

Furniture in the garden can serve
many purposes. It is a place to sit and enjoy the
outdoors while reading a book. It can be a place to have
a nice meal or play with your grandchildren. Furniture
can provide a place to rest while you are hard at work
with your plants.

However, whatever
the practical, utilitarian purpose the furniture in your
garden, it must also fulfill a design purpose too. The
same design criteria used to determine how to best
display your plants should be applied to the placement
and style of your garden furniture. A very formal bench
in an informal garden will stand out like a sore thumb.

The vast majority of what falls into
the category of garden furniture includes a wide array
of benches, chairs, stools and tables. As with household
furniture, these all come in a large number of styles
and are made of many different materials.

We have tried to make some sort of
order out of this subject by grouping furniture items by
the materials used in their construction as follows:

Wood- Since early times,
outdoor furniture has been made of wood. At first,
people used local species such as cedar, oak and
maple but in recent (centuries?) we are also using
more exotic wood such as mahogany. We have gathered
images of dozens of types of
wooden furniture
during our travels to private and public gardens.

Metal- Perhaps the most
commonly used metal associated with garden furniture
is wrought iron. This beautiful metal has been used
for decorative fences and delicate furniture in many
parts of the world. Other
metal furniture is
being made of such materials as steel and aluminum.

Stone - Hand carved pieces
of granite or other stone have long appeared in
classic gardens of Europe and elsewhere. More recent
stone furniture may
also be made of composite materials or of caste
cement.

Synthetic Materials - With
the advent of fiberglass and plastics, the world of
outdoor furniture has expanded greatly.
Furniture made for
synthetic processes run the gamut of styles and
taste.

Visit our image galleries for
pictures of a wide array of different hardscape features for the
landscape. Our intent is to give you some ideas about the variety of
options available in each of the categories we cover. Some are the
standard type while others may be unique or unusual. There will be
features you might want to copy and others that you may want to
avoid. Good luck!